Waiting on map verdict

County district map must be approved for summer primary

Athens-Clarke County should get word today whether a new county commission district map can be used for this summer's primary election, or whether the county will have to scramble to develop a Plan B.

The commission's new map - which only slightly alters the existing eight-district, two-superdistrict plan - must get approval from the U.S. Department of Justice today in order to go into effect for the Aug. 20 primary election. Georgia is one of several states that must submit all redistricting plans to the Justice Department in order to ensure minority voting rights.

Candidate qualifying for the commission race begins at 9 a.m. Wednesday and ends at noon Friday.

Acting County Attorney Holly Hilton said she spoke Monday with a representative of the Justice Department who assured her there would be an official response today. The Justice Department representative would not say what that response might be, she said.

Hilton declined to comment on how commission elections might be handled if the Justice Department has objections to the new map.

"As far as I'm concerned, I'd rather not speculate now when we'll have an definite answer tomorrow," she said.

Phyllis Wheeler, the county's newly appointed elections superintendent, said commission candidates would likely be registered under old district lines if the new map is not approved, but she stressed that decision would ultimately involve the county manager and the Georgia Secretary of State's office.

Wheeler said all potential commission candidates live in the same district using both the new and old maps, to the best of her knowledge. She also said it's doubtful anyone would be required to vote in different district races during the primary election and general election, but said it's still unclear exactly how all of the districts and precincts would pan out.

"Your guess is as good as mine right now as to what's going to happen. We're kind of playing it by ear," Wheeler said.

A tight time frame is nothing new to the commission map, which has received its share of delays and opposition. Earlier this year, Mayor Doc Eldridge expressed frustration that the map languished in a state Senate subcommittee for more than eight weeks on its way to the Justice Department.

Last month, Commissioner John Barrow wrote a four-page letter urging that the Justice Department reject the new map, calling the county's map submittal "misleading" and arguing the new map doesn't adequately represent minority voters. Later, Commissioner Alvin Sheats wrote another letter to the Justice Department, taking exception to a few of Barrow's criticisms.

A new nine-district map for the Clarke County Board of Education also hasn't been approved by the Justice Department, but the school board has more flexibility than the commission, school board attorney Terrell Benton said. The qualifying deadline for candidates in the non-partisan school board election starts July 29.